Foreclosure Law Firms Are Committing Fraud on Consumers and The Court
An article in today’s Tampa Tribune examines the practices of the three law firms that account for the vast majority of foreclosure cases that have been filed in Pinellas County and across the State of Florida. The article, which can be found here, offers a frankly weak analysis and light criticism of the practices engaged in these firm, Florida Default Law, David Stern and Watson Marshall. The Florida Supreme Court’s Task Force Report on Residential Mortgage Foreclosures was frankly far more direct when it found that these firms were enagaging in systematic fraud and abuses of court process. One quote from the article was significant, in an opinion from a Federal Bankruptcy Judge who wrote,
“Florida Default and Wells Fargo “have engaged in the systematic process of churning out unrefined and unexamined form pleadings, instead of producing and filing carefully considered legal papers.”
The article missed the bigger story and that is the widespread fraud that these firms are committing everyday as they attempt to push their foreclosure cases through. I currently or have previously represented hundreds of clients in cases against these firms and can tell you that their work product is an embarrassment to the legal community. It is frankly just shocking that judges and courts continue to allow this behavior to occur.